Oregon State Beavers football: California is the best, WSU coach says

Doug Beghtel/The OregonianAndrew Luck and the Cardinal have nothing on Cal, according to Washington State coach Paul Wulff.

Now that Andrew Luck and Stanford are gone – and with the Civil War still three weeks away – Oregon State gears up for Saturday’s game against the most talented team in the Pac-12 Conference.

Say what?

“They are the best-looking football team that I have seen in this conference, period,’’ Washington State coach Wulff said of California (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12) after the Bears beat the Cougars 30-7 on Saturday. “They probably have the best talent, top to bottom.’’

Yes, Washington State has played Stanford and Oregon. And never mind that Cal has lost to UCLA by 17 points and to USC by 21 and needed overtime to beat lowly Colorado.

The Bears are 9 ½-point favorites against Oregon State (2-7, 2-4) for the 3:30 p.m. game at AT&T Park.

Cardinal Keep-away: Stanford beat Oregon State in football, 38-13, and in keep-away Saturday.

The Cardinal more than doubled OSU’s time of possession (40:20 to 19:40) and held the Beavers to 47 plays – 25 fewer than their average and the fewest OSU has had in any game since at least 1980.

Riley said some three-and-outs didn’t help matters.

“We’d give the ball back to them and let them go on another … slow … long … drive,’’ Riley said.

There were quite a few pages of the playbook that the Beavers just never got to.

“That makes you feel bad because you prepare quite a bit of stuff for the game and you don’t get to all the things that you want to do,’’ Riley said.

Nowhere to run: After gaining 33 yards (counting Sean Mannion’s 27 negative yards on three sacks) against the Cardinal, the Beavers fell to 113th nationally in rushing, with an average of 94.6 yards per game. Only a couple of inches per game separate Arizona, OSU and Colorado in that national bottom 10.

Some of that, though, is a product of carries. Only SMU and Hawaii have fewer rushing attempts per game than Oregon State (27.2). Even pass-happy Houston averages four more carries than the Beavers.

At times this season, Oregon State has all but abandoned the running game. Against Stanford, the Beavers had 17 rushes – again, three of those were sacks of Mannion – and five others were end arounds. Running backs carried only nine times: Eight by Malcolm Agnew (for 15 yards, a 1.9-yard average) and one by Terron Ward (five yards).

Some fly-sweeps worked, but as Riley said, “we got very little up the middle.’’

Asked if he saw any hope for the running game, Riley said they’re working on it.

“Not right now – after watching the game (film),’’ Riley said. “Maybe by Tuesday, I’ll have a little optimism. They were whipping us up front a little bit.’’

Further review: Riley sent in the tape of Jordan Poyer’s hit on Chris Owusu to the league office Sunday – a customary procedure that all coaches do regularly.

That hit was controversial because Owusu suffered his third concussion in 13 months on the play and the personal foul call on Poyer negated a fumble return touchdown that would have tied the game.

“That’ll be one that they’ll want to look at,’’ said Riley, noting college football’s point of emphasis on hits to the head. “There will be major discussion in the offseason about this. I do think that we’ll find a better consensus, maybe, in the offseason.’’

Injury news: Riley said he is eager to learn whether middle linebacker Feti Unga (knee), receiver Jordan Bishop (ankle) and center Grant Johnson (ankle) will be able to return for the Cal game.

More offensive line help: Garrett Weinreich, a three-star offensive lineman from Arroyo Grande, Calif., committed to Oregon State on Sunday, according to Rivals.com.

Weinreich, a 6-foot-6, 290-pounder, is the sixth offensive lineman to commit to the Beavers, who are addressing their area of biggest need. Weinreich chose OSU over Arizona, Colorado, Fresno State and Washington State.